WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

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◈ Omniscient First-Person's Viewpoint

Chapter 109

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Beast, Beast King, Human - 5

After my escape act ended.

Dozens of expressions crossed Lieutenant General Ebon Crimsonwild's face.

Confusion, emptiness, anger, despair, a sense of failure, apology, resentment, and more.

Still, what could he do? Maybe if I'd shown even a hint of unfastening it midway. But now that I was already far away, there was nothing he could do.

"Lieutenant Colonel!"

"Hyu!"

Right then, the immortal and Tyr arrived. The immortal rushed over and caught Callis before she collapsed, but Tyr looked me over as if she had no interest at all in the bleeding Callis.

"Were you not startled? How could you run out alone like that? You should have warned me first!"

I couldn't have. If I had told this vampire, who only cared whether I lived or died, she probably would have grabbed me first instead of letting me go.

Instead of saying that honestly, I just shrugged and trailed off.

"It's fine as long as I'm okay. I'm fine, so please put that person's blood back first."

At my casual answer, Tyr narrowed her eyes.

"Blood, you say?"

"Yes. Even if your bloodcraft has weakened, you can at least push flowing blood back inside, right?"

Long ago, Tyr had been a healer. Back then, she used bloodcraft to stop people's wounds from bleeding.

She did it then, so even now, after reclaiming life, she should be able to guide blood back with bloodcraft. I made what I thought was a perfectly reasonable request.

For some reason, Tyr puffed her cheeks in displeasure.

"Was that soldier's life truly that precious to you, that you rushed over at the risk of your own life?"

'I was worried sick that you might die, and yet you're even less protective of your own life than I am!'

Wow, she was really angry. How was I supposed to fix this?

Win with an argument? Appeal to emotion?

The job still wasn't over, so I needed the easy route.

Instead of talking back, I raised my hand and played with Tyr's hair. Fine silver strands rolled softly across my fingertips.

She flinched at the sudden closeness and stopped talking. I slowly spread the silver hair across my palm and said,

"If I had died, you would have turned me into a vampire anyway."

Even if I died, becoming a vampire would have solved it. A little off point, sure. But if you want to move someone's feelings, weight matters more than logic.

At that confession-like line, Tyr answered timidly.

"T-that is true... but my bloodcraft is not whole...."

I asked innocently.

"You can't?"

"Even if you become a vampire through my blood now, if you are far away... your blood will not move well."

"So it doesn't work at a distance?"

I smiled, brought her hair to the tip of my nose, and muttered,

"Then I'll have to stay close to you. Well, if I revive, I can live with that, right?"

"Ugh...!"

Tyr's face turned red as a radish. Her heart seemed to be working just fine.

She reflexively moved away from me, then headed toward Callis and snapped,

"...Just you try dying. I'll revive you and work you to death."

Then she did as I asked and pushed Callis's blood back in. Kindly, she also gathered darkness and held Callis's body in place.

The immortal realized there was nothing he could do for Callis, left Callis to Tyr, and stepped back. With his hands free, he came over to me.

"Teacher, well done!"

"I worked hard, yeah. Enough that I should rest soon."

"Still, I must point this out! You're truly mischievous! Even in that urgent moment, you still played tricks!"

"Tricks?"

"Pretending you couldn't undo the chain!"

"Huh? That looked like a trick to you?"

"...It wasn't?"

The immortal blinked.

Wow, I saved a life and got scolded? I didn't bother hiding how unfair that felt and shouted loud enough to shake the place.

"Come on. I worked my ass off and you're nitpicking my attitude? If I'd undone the chain right away, do you think that lieutenant general would've backed off? He would've thrown his blade at me immediately!"

"Now that I think about it, you're right! I have no rebuttal!"

The immortal nodded at once.

"You looked way too happy, so I misunderstood! My apologies!"

"I'll forgive you, so behave better from now on."

I really was having fun.

But that should count as a side benefit, right? If I had to act for safety anyway, why not enjoy it too?

"Still, impressive skill. To undo it in such a short time."

I shrugged.

"This is what happens when you use a flimsy weapon concept like claw. Weapons should be solid single-piece, not modular or detachable."

Not that he used it because he wanted to. You don't become one of the military state generals by giving up the weapon type that suits you best.

Then it happened.

"Woof! Woof woof!"

Azzy came running over from the other side, barking brightly. A chain tied to the claw grip was still wrapped around her arm, and the ten-meter chain swayed like a wave every time she ran.

Lieutenant General Ebon had fled somewhere the moment he failed, so Azzy ran straight to me without interference.

"You little brat, you've been through a lot."

She really did come straight to me first, maybe because she'd seen me the most. Raising a dog really was moving... was what I was thinking, but her speed wasn't dropping. Instead of slowing down, Azzy jumped and threw herself at me.

"Guhk!"

I can topple over pathetically even when a normal dog jumps at me, and Azzy's body was full adult size. She even had a chain dangling off her. Even sturdy me couldn't hold up.

Azzy climbed on top of me and licked my face over and over.

"Woof! Woof!"

"Damn it, hey! I'm not hurt! Stop licking!"

"Woof!"

It's nice that she remembers favors, but her way of repaying them was wrong. I wish she'd stop licking and go fetch money from somewhere.

I untied the chain around Azzy's arm and spoke.

"Enough, Azzy. You have a job."

"Woof?"

"Outside, there's a cat. Not a prickly human who's catlike, a real cat."

"Woof!"

How uncomfortable had she been all this time? Bound at the arm by a chain, bound by a promise too. Damn, how much she must've suffered because I hadn't said this sooner.

Clank, the chain dropped.

I gave Azzy, now free to use both hands, an order.

An order that removed the chain that had restrained her until now.

"That cat is making our lives hell. So go bite it."

"...Grrr."

The moment I gave permission, Azzy bared her teeth gladly. She sprang up off me, then walked out with a low growl that echoed through the entire Abyss.

Good. It looked like the regressor had almost finished off Nabi outside anyway. If Azzy went too, it would end for sure.

I brushed off my hands, roughly done with the job. Now what remained was...

"Huh? Rashy-ssi, where are you going?"

When I looked up, the immortal was striding off somewhere. When I asked, he waved his hand and answered.

"Ah, don't mind me! I wanted to see the lieutenant general once, so I'm going to find him!"

"The lieutenant general?"

"That's right. I have something to ask him!"

I glanced toward Tyr. Maybe because bloodcraft's range had narrowed, Tyr stayed pressed tightly to Callis and couldn't watch this side.

I carefully got up and followed him.

"What a coincidence. I also have business with him. Let's go together."

"I'm not exactly going to fight him. Is that fine?"

"I'm not going to fight either. I just have something to ask."

"Understood! Then let us go...!"

I quickly put a finger in front of his nose.

"Shh. Quiet. And let's sneak over. If Tyr hears I'm going to the lieutenant general, she'll make a huge scene."

The immortal blinked, then understood and lowered his voice.

"Ha ha! Like an outsider husband cast out of the house! Good. Let's go. Quietly!"

If I only got cast out, that'd be lucky. Imagine getting hit by that fist. It's the fist that nearly put the Beast King on death's door in one blow.

Right now she was like this because she didn't know how to use it properly, but if she learned to use it fully, wow.

I shook my head and followed the immortal.

Lieutenant General Ebon was heading for the rooftop with the stealth of a cat beastkin. The immortal and I tailed him.

'It was a miserable failure. I am always prepared to die, but I cannot die like this, after failing.'

Even after everything had come to this, Ebon kept crawling toward life to the very end.

If it were sheer tenacity for life, I'd applaud. But I knew better. That was the scream of someone searching for a period.

A flame that calmly burns other books for the sake of a perfect period that will never come.

'The biggest cause... that dangerous figure. I heard she was subdued by one of the Six Generals, Sunderspear, so she should be several moves below him. I thought if I used the King of Cats or stepped in myself, I could handle it somehow....'

For him, the regressor was a variable. Unlike the Beast King or the Progenitor, she was dangerous precisely because her very existence was unclear, too uncertain to approach carelessly.

It's comforting that his impression matched mine.

Good. So she wasn't only violent toward me. Regressor, you were an equal-opportunity disaster that threatened everyone.

'...But even so, things unraveled too strangely. The lieutenant colonel betrayed me, and the colonel and the King of Cats were absurdly powerless. There must have been another variable I failed to consider....'

Another variable you failed to consider?

We call that the world. The world is made of variables.

You're not some shameless prophet. You can't predict and preview everything in existence.

'So, no matter what, get outside. Sink this Tantalus, variables and all.'

"Absolutely not! There are people riding this thing!"

At my shout, Ebon, who had been walking to the middle of the rooftop, flinched and turned around. Not long after, the immortal and I also reached the rooftop.

Ebon showed no sign of tension even after seeing us and greeted us casually.

"Ah, the immortal and the laborer."

The immortal addressed him.

"Good to see you, lieutenant general. I am Rashy, also the man you tore to pieces."

"And despite that, you stand before me again, revived."

It was a smooth reply. Relaxed too, for someone being chased.

The immortal gave a big nod.

"That's right! Well, I bear no grudge against you, lieutenant general. If I held grudges every time my body got damaged, the world would be full of people to resent! Secret between us, but even here in the Abyss, everyone has a record of messing with this body of mine at least once!"

Well, yes, Azzy, the regressor, Tyr, and I all wrecked the immortal's body before.

The immortal spoke heartily. The lieutenant general replied with a gentle smile.

"Yes. You were that kind of person. Thanks to that, I did not feel much guilt when I tore you apart."

"That's fine! You don't need guilt for tearing me apart! No one here felt guilt toward me either!"

...Sorry, Rashy-ssi.

I apologized to him in advance in my heart, before he ever started holding grudges.

"Still! There is something I am curious about!"

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